After finishing his service he worked as a school caretaker in Moscow before being re-drafted into the military in June 1941 due to the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

[1] Recruited into the Red Army soon after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, he helped to pioneer the sniper movement within the 25th Guards Rifle Division.

On 6 December 1942 he received his first award, the Order of the Red Star, for killing 140 enemy combatants.

[1] Golosov increased his sniper tally, and on 16 April 1943 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for killing 295 enemies.

[4][5] His tally of 422 kills was reported in many major Soviet newspapers including Komsomolskaya Pravda and Vechernyaya Moskva.